Viktor Johan Anton Claesson (; born 2 January 1992) is a Swedish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

and the Sweden national team. He is known for his passing and set piece abilities.

Club career

Early career

Claesson started his career with local club

IFK Värnamo IFK Värnamo is a Swedish professional Association football, football club located in Värnamo. The club plays in the Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. The most famous player from the club is Jonas Thern, who was captain of the Swede ...

. After progressing through the youth ranks, he made his senior debut in 2009 in a

Division 1 Södra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan (), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish football teams. It was formerly simply known as ''Division 1''. Division 1 ...

match. After a breakthrough campaign during the

2011 Superettan The 2011 Superettan was part of the 2011 Swedish football season, and the twelfth season of Superettan, Sweden's second-tier football division in its current format. The season began on 9 April 2011 and ended on 22 October 2011. The top two team ...

season, Claesson join

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional association football, football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Alls ...

in the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

, the top division of Swedish football.

Krasnodar

On 25 January 2017, Claesson signed a 3.5-year contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

team

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. They are the league's reigning champions. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Divis ...

. He scored on his debut on 16 February 2017 in a 1–0 Europa League Round of 32 win against Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

side Fenerbahçe, scoring a header on his first touch in any competitive Krasnodar game in the 4th minute. He was selected by UEFA as "Man of the Match". He continued his form with two goals in a Russian Cup game against FC Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast on 28 February 2017 and a goal against

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

in the first leg of Europa League Round of 16 on 9 March 2017. Claesson missed all of the 2019–20 season with a serious knee injury.

2020–21 season

Out of action for over 14 months, Claesson returned from injury on 18 August 2020, playing the last 15 minutes of Krasnodar's 2–0 home win over Arsenal Tula in the

. On 18 September, he scored his first two goals since his return from injury in a 7–2 thrashing of

Khimki Khimki (, ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located approximately northwest from central Moscow, and is part of the Moscow metropolitan area. History Origins and formation Khimki was initially a railway station that had existed sin ...

. Four days later, Claesson scored from the penalty spot in the club's first-leg play-off round match against

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

for qualification to the group stage of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. Krasnodar would win the second leg against PAOK by the same scoreline and secure progression to the group stage of the Champions League for the first time in the club's history.

2021–22 season

On 3 March 2022, following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Krasnodar announced that his contract was suspended and he would not train with the team, but the contract was not terminated and remained valid. On 5 March 2022, his contract was terminated and he was released from the club.

Copenhagen

On 30 March 2022, Claesson signed with

in Denmark until the end of the season. On 3 April, he scored the winning goal in his debut match for the club after coming on as a substitute in the 61st minute. On 16 June 2022, Claesson signed an extension with Copenhagen until 2026.

International career

In May 2018, Claesson was named in Sweden’s 23 man squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

in Russia. He was one of Sweden's main men for the duration of the tournament, in which the Blågult reached the quarterfinals. In a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

on 10 June 2019, Claesson suffered a serious knee injury, rupturing the cruciate knee ligaments, after a clash with Jordi Alba. He was named in Sweden's

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

squad, and appeared in all four games as Sweden was eliminated in the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. He scored the winning goal in a 3–2 win against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in the group stage. On 19 November 2023, Claesson registered one goal and one assist against Estonia in their 2-0 win in their European Qualifiers game.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Claesson goal.''

Honours

Elfsborg *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

: 2013–14 Copenhagen *

: 2021–22, 2022–23, 2024–25 *

Danish Cup The Danish Cup (; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "single-elimination tournament, knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will ...

: 2022–23 2024–25 Sweden *

King's Cup King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King's Cup (Bahrain), the premier national knockout football tournament * King's ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Individual *

top assist provider:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

* Swedish Midfielder of the Year: 2018 *

Stor Grabb STOR may refer to: * ''Short Term Operating Reserve'', see National Grid Reserve Service * STØR, American furniture chain * STOR2RRD, an open-source software tool See also *JSTOR, digital library *Stor (born 1987), Swedish rapper *Stör, a rive ...

: 2018 *

Left Winger of the Season: 2018–19

References

External links

Profile
at the F.C. Copenhagen website *
archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Claesson, Viktor 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Värnamo Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Ettan Fotboll players Superettan players Allsvenskan players IFK Värnamo players IF Elfsborg players Russian Premier League players FC Krasnodar players F.C. Copenhagen players 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Footballers from Jönköping County 21st-century Swedish sportsmen